Meal boxes and toy collection: the restaurant Le Graffiti wants to help the most deprived for Christmas

In addition to offering 500 Christmas meal boxes to underprivileged children, the restaurant Le Graffiti is also launching a toy drive which will be redistributed, as needed, in Quebec schools with the support of the Lions Club.

“Recently, I saw a Christmas report in which a boy asked his mother for a toy and she replied that she couldn’t afford it and that touched me. The next day, I went to see the owner to ask him if he was interested in doing something to help people in this situation,” explains manager Freddy Correa.

The latter did not even have time to finish explaining his project as the owner was already excited about it.

“I know that I’m going to have a wonderful Christmas and that I won’t want for anything, but that’s not the case for everyone and just like me, he thought it was important to do a little something more to add joy to the Christmas of these children and their families,” he adds.

Engage customers

The two men therefore agreed to encourage customers to bring, during their visit to the restaurant, a toy or a stuffed animal with the aim of collecting 500 comforting gifts which can accompany the meal boxes which will be distributed between now and Christmas.

“We already have a lot of reservations for the next month, so we thought it was a good idea to involve our customers in this sharing of love, sweetness and magic.”

“It doesn’t have to be something big, it can just be a game of cards, but if we all get involved, that’s when we’ll be able to make a difference,” he said. he added.

Mr. Correa specified that the owner is committed to reaching the magic number if the 500 gifts are not collected on time.

Follow suit

However, it is not only customers who are invited to join the initiative, other restaurateurs as well.

“Yes, there are a lot of initiatives like this around Christmas time, but not many on the restaurant side. We therefore hope that it will inspire others and that they will want to follow suit this year and others to come, in order to show that solidarity makes a difference,” underlines Mr. Correa.

Remember that Henry Coindé, owner of Graffiti and Pataci & Pataca, also decided, several months ago, to remedy the losses after being suggested to do something useful by his manager and his chef.

In order to limit food waste, its team distributes surplus food to various community fridges as well as to food banks in Quebec.